4 ms·

> Question for the Americans: Does it really matter if you go to an "elite" college or a regular one? One of the best engineers I know went to DeVry, which is

by IvyMike 12y ago

> Question for the Americans: Does it really matter if you go to an "elite" college or a regular one? One of the best engineers I know went to DeVry, which is definitely on the lower tier of schools. And I know a few great programmers that don't even technically have engineering degrees. That being said, if I had to roll the dice I'd put my money on an MIT, Berkeley, or Caltech grad any day. The minimum standards, your peer group, and your opportunities are much better at an elite school. There are crappy grads from 'elite' schools, but the odds of this are a lot lower. And if you have a lot of talent, you're going to get noticed at the elite schools and have a much easier time finding a way to use your talent than at a lower-tier school.

bjourne 12y ago
But why are you contradicting your own anecdote? Do you have any evidence to believe "elite" university graduates are more competent? Seems to me like you and the sibling comments who also would pick the "elite" graduates could influenced by marketing. But in the real world you don't have to roll the dice. You can ask applicants what courses they took and what their grade scores were. So if you had two applicants with the same grades in front of you, would you still pick the one that went to a brand name university?
- IvyMike 12y ago
  > Do you have any evidence to believe "elite" university graduates are more competent? I guess I'm talking about the difference between a strict rule and playing the odds.] > You can ask applicants what courses they took and what their grade scores were. So if you had two applicants with the same grades in front of you, would you still pick the one that went to a brand name university? With no other data, yeah, I'd pick the guy who graduated from MIT with great grades over the DeVry guy with the same grades. But of course my job during hiring is to try to acquire more data, and I swear I tried really, really hard, and sometimes it made the difference.

by IvyMike 12y ago

bjourne 12y ago

But why are you contradicting your own anecdote? Do you have any evidence to believe "elite" university graduates are more competent? Seems to me like you and the sibling comments who also would pick the "elite" graduates could influenced by marketing. But in the real world you don't have to roll the dice. You can ask applicants what courses they took and what their grade scores were. So if you had two applicants with the same grades in front of you, would you still pick the one that went to a brand name university?

IvyMike 12y ago
> Do you have any evidence to believe "elite" university graduates are more competent? I guess I'm talking about the difference between a strict rule and playing the odds.] > You can ask applicants what courses they took and what their grade scores were. So if you had two applicants with the same grades in front of you, would you still pick the one that went to a brand name university? With no other data, yeah, I'd pick the guy who graduated from MIT with great grades over the DeVry guy with the same grades. But of course my job during hiring is to try to acquire more data, and I swear I tried really, really hard, and sometimes it made the difference.